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Friday, December 12, 2014

Diary + Tips | New York City Vacation

Hi sweeties!

EN: As you probably all know by now, due to the huge amount of outfit posts, I went to New York with my boyfriend. I had been there before, but only for two days, so since then I had been dreaming about going back for a longer time. So, in November we went to NYC for 12 days! Yep, 12 days! In this post, I'm showing you my favorite pictures I took in NYC and I'm sharing some tips for things which I would really recommend doing if you're ever in NYC! And if you prefer watching a video, here's a time lapse I made which shows you all the photos I took in just 1 minute! Get ready for a heck of a lot of photos! I hope you'll like the post!

Tip 3: Take a long long walk through Central Park. And rent a bike! We spent almost an entire day in Central Park just walking. Central Park is huge and it has so many different gorgeous spots. If you have the time, certainly make it a long walk! Plus, all the cute squirrels you will walk into in the park will give you a cuteness overload for the rest of the year! Renting a bike is a great one too! We had a lot of fun cruising through the park!

Bonus tip: Visit New York in fall if you're into the fall colours, like me! Central Park was so gorgeous!

Tip 4: Go to Times Square by night and eat at the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company! This one's especially for the Forrest Gump lovers out here. This restaurant is entirely Forrest Gump themed! It's also very vegetarian proof by the way, even though the name wouldn't suggest that ;-) And it's also a great place to eat if you haven't seen the movie. The food is great and their smoothies are awesome! And you have a great view over Times Square from your table!

Tip 5: Go to a musical! I can highly recommend The Lion King, which is the one we went to! It's pricy, but to me, it was worth it! Also, if you're in NYC around Christmas, it's really fun to visit Macy's and check out their enormous Christmas collection!

Tip 6: Walk the High Line. The High Line is a park that used to be a train track. It goes from 34th Street to 16th Street and it's above street level, which gives you a great view on the New York traffic. Also, it's a really fun industrial route!

Tip 7: Chelsea Market. When you finish the High Line (from 34th to 16th that is, you can also walk it the other way around) you're very close to Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market looks really pretty on the inside. Very industrial. There's a nice vibe and you can buy a lot of different kinds of food, but also picknick baskets and cooking equipment. The Chelsea neighborhood is also very nice to walk through, by the way. The above picture was taken there at night.

Tip 8: Roosevelt Tram & Roosevelt Island. This is one of my personal favorites! At East 60th Street, there's a cable lift tram which takes you to Roosevelt Island. We took the tram, because of the awesome views we were expecting to get. And which we did! So, I can already advice doing this only for the ride! The tram is free when you have an unlimited metrocard or costs $2,50 for a one way ticket otherwise. But... Roosevelt Island itself is also really worth checking out! Not a lot of tourists seem to know about this place, as it's super quiet. Even my parents, who have been to New York for about 7 times, had never heard of it! When you get out of the tram, you head in the downtown direction and you find a cute little park. Walk that one down all the way to the end and you will be rewarded with a stunning view over the Hudson River and Manhattan!

Tip 9: Visit the top deck of the Rockefeller Center at sunset! Another one of my favorites! I had this one totally planned out. I thought it would be so magical to see all of Manhattan at sunset and then in the dark with all those lights. And wow, it was amazing! We stayed on the deck for about an hour just looking at all those lights. I know a lot of people go on top of the Empire State Building. I went on there the first time I was in New York and now I prefer the Rockefeller Center view. From the Rockefeller Center, you have a better view on Central Park and also, on the Empire State Building itself! This one is highly recommended!

P.S. If you want to see the actual sunset, go in about an hour before sunset, because you have to cue a lot before you actually get to go up.

Tip 10: Ice Skating in Central Park! I already did an outfit post about this, so you might have already seen it, but on one of our last days in NYC, we went ice skating in Central Park! Now, this one is the best NYC tip I can give you! Of course, you have to go in fall or winter to be able to do this. But I really recommend going in that time, because of the gorgeous fall leaves in Central Park and of course because of the ice skating! When we were there, the rink had just opened about a week before. So, it opens about at the end of October. Highly recommended! It's magical!

Tip 11: Walk around in Soho, Greenwhich Village, Flat Iron District and see the Grand Central Station. Ok, these are a lot of tips in one, haha! Soho is a gorgeous neighborhood. It's famous for its shops, but those were a little out of my price range. The buildings, however, are gorgeous! I'm a huge sucker for those New York fire escapes and they were all around there, so I loved it! Greenwhich Village is a very cute neighborhood, which has a bit of a 'village' kind of feel. There's a lot of nice and cheap restaurants there, and vintage shops! The Flat Iron Building was the scenery for my last outfit shoot. It's just fun to check out! Grand Central Station is the most grand train station I have ever seen. Wow! It's gorgeous from the outside and it's such a fun contrast with the modern buildings around it. It's also gorgeous on the inside. Can you believe the "Track 117" sign? Wow!

Those were all my tips and photos! I hope you liked seeing and reading it! Have you ever been to NYC? And what do you think of my tips and photos? I'd love to hear!

Sonja Briefly

Welcome to my personal style & fashion blog!

I'm an Amsterdam based redheaded Sonja of 24 years old, who's a huge music on vinyl, fashion and vintage lover and one of Caro Emerald's biggest fans. Fashionwise, I mostly get inspired by the 50s. Check the About page for more & I hope you'll